In the past, consumers generally viewed television programming and other streaming media content as it was received from a network, broadcast, cable, or satellite source. As analog and digital recording devices (e.g., video cassette recorders, as well as digital/personal video recorders) became more prevalent, consumers were increasingly able to temporally shift their media viewing to more convenient viewing times. More recently, the ability to “placeshift” media viewing from one location to another has become more widespread. For example, SLING MEDIA of Foster City, Calif., currently markets placeshifting products under the trademark SLINGBOX that enable consumers to remotely view on a display device, such as a laptop computer, desktop computer, or mobile phone, television programming provided from a receiver residing in a different physical location than does the display device.
At present, digital media content is primarily placeshifted from a receiver or recorder over a digital network to a personal computer, wireless phone, or other portable device. However, consumers are becoming increasingly interested in non-traditional sources of digital media content typically viewed on a computer display, such as streaming video received via the Internet or other network. In addition, many consumers now possess video cameras or other equipment for generating their own content. Much of this content is in digital format that is most readily viewed on a personal computer or other digital computing device. A commercial demand has thus developed for the ability to placeshift video content from a personal computer to a remotely-located television or other display. However, a concern has arisen that, should consumers be provided with the capacity to placeshift video content from a personal computer to a remotely-located television or other remote display, the video content appearing on the remotely-located television could be recorded utilizing a video cassette recorder, a digital video recorder, or similar device connected to the television and thereby circumvent any copy protection measures associated with the video content originating from the personal computer.
Thus, there exists an ongoing commercial need to provide systems, methods, and program products that enable digital media content to be placeshifted from a computer system to a remotely-located television or other display, while also selectively restricting the placeshifting of copy protected digital media content to deter improper copying. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended Claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings and the foregoing Background.